Biblical Hebrew Forum

[<david.kimbrough AT charter.net>]

So, if the writers of the Bible thought that Eden was 
north-west of Mesopotamia, presumably Nod is in Mesopotemia 
or in the Persian/Median highlands.  Since the latter is 
almost never mentioned else where in the OT, I would guess 
the former.


On 09/06/2004 21:34, david.kimbrough at charter.net wrote:

>Eden for Fun
>
>...
>
>In Genesis 2, (dn is placed at 
the head of four rivers, t
he 

>Euphrat
es 
[ prt ], the Gihon [ gyxwn ], the Pison [ py#n ], 
>and
 the Hiddekel [xdkl ], probably the Tigris.  Both the 
>
Tigris and Euphrates have the head waters in the same 
>regi
on of southern (Kurdish) Turkey.  There are of course 
>othe
r rivers in this region (e.g. Zab, Diyala, or Khabur).  
>Th
e writer (the DH folks would say this is ?J?) seems to
 be 
>thinking again of northern Mesopotamia or the highland
 
>around i
t.
>
>Question; could there be some connectio 
between Gihon 
>[gyxwn] and Gozan [gwzn]?
>  
>

Giho
n corresponds to Arabic Jeyhun, which is apparently (among 
other 
things) an old name (but still found on some 19th ce
ntury maps) for
 the 
river Araz or Araxes, which now forms the north-wes
t frontier of Iran 
and flows very close to Ararat.

>..
.
>

>S
o it would seem th
at there is so
me 
idea in the OT that 
>Eden was to the north and we
st of Mesopotamia.
>
>  

>
Agreed. Among others, Davi
d Rohl has looked into this idea in his book 
"Legend
".

David Kimbrough
San Gabriel